Embodiments of this invention are directed to systems and methods for remotely triggered data acquisition.
Systems including, mechanical systems, machines, vehicles, structures, etc. including, but not limited to, vehicles and aircraft and component parts thereof, including, but not limited to, metals, composites, frames, hydraulics, engines, transmissions, air conditioning, lighting, etc. (hereinafter “system(s)”) may include health management system(s) to monitor the health of the system. Health management systems may include sensors or other types of remote devices that are configured to measure and/or convey information regarding the status of the system to a processing device that is configured to monitor the health of the system. To enable such health management systems, communication lines and/or connections must be established between the remote devices and the processing device.
To enable the monitoring and running of algorithms upon received data, multiple wires may be required to be run from the various remote sources (sensors, etc.) to a single multiplexing analog data acquisition unit that is configured to convert multiple channels of about 1 kHz to about 100 kHz information into digital data, with higher acquisition rates possible and usable. The analog data is transmitted to the acquisition unit when triggered by logic that detects valid operational envelopes or triggering events. The logic is provided to address the variability in the data that would be present without such logic, i.e., the variability in the data is excessively large for useful diagnostics without such logic. When employed, for example, on aircraft, such systems require extensive wiring that adds additional weight and complexity to a system design. Such weight increases may be desired to be avoided.
In addition to extensive wiring associated with a plurality of sensors and other devices that may be employed for health monitoring, or other purposes, the sensors themselves will vary. For example, numerous individual and/or small form-factor sensors and related digitization equipment may be employed, thus adding additional complexity to the system. Communication to each and every device simultaneously, or substantially simultaneously, may be difficult.